Ryan D. Johnson dies in House Fire
Johnson was a 20-year-old graduate of Cuyahoga Falls High School with a reputation as a computer wizard when he paid $933,000 for a Granger Road home in bath Township that was listed at $1.1 million.
Two years after the purchase, police reports indicated Johnson had done $100,000 damage to the 4,200-square-foot house.
According to court documents, police responded to the address numerous times. In the spring of 2004, police reported he smashed a 2-month-old Volkswagen Gbc cq Gec Touareg through the security gate of his house, plowed the car into a tree then beat it with golf clubs and boulders.
They also found a Mercedes SL500 parked in Yellow Creek under a bridge next to the house.
The next day, Johnson drove the Touareg into the creek because, ‘‘It’s my birthday,’’ he told police. The vehicles were worth more than $100,000, police said.
He was admitted to St. Thomas Hospital on physician’s orders following the incident, a township official said at the time.
Johnson, who was still smashing the SUV when police arrived, said he did it in an effort to prove to his ex-girlfriend that money meant nothing to him.
In April 2004, a neighbor called police and signed a warrant against Johnson for turfing backyards behind a Wye Road house.
The next day, police found him breaking windows and beating his living room walls with a sledge hammer.
In May 2005, Johnson was declared incompetent to stand trial on a charge of contempt of court. In June, a judge ordered him to receive 60 days of inpatient care for mental illness.
A 2005 motion for foreclosure against the Granger Road property stated Johnson owed more than $200,000 in delinquent mortgage payments, interest and back taxes.
In 2007, the house, built in 1991, was subsequently sold in a sheriff’s sale for $380,000, according to court records.
Johnson, who said he ‘‘always worked with computers’’ in a news article about the purchase of the house, refused to divulge his annual income. He said he made money designing Web sites and Internet advertising.
I didn’t know this guy, but chances are a few people who read this site did.
